Not The Same (Haylin)

[Rylee Vasquez]

Rylee hated that she couldn't join team sports...she loved being competitive, loved the rush of adrenaline, the team work, all of it. But she was stuck on the field by herself, kicking a soccer ball around. She needed to get her fill, even if it wasn't the same. She wasn't playing against anybody, there wasn't any competition to it. Just her, the ball, and the goal, and the whispering wind of the fall season. It was incredibly dull. Rylee had never been someone who was a lone wolf unless there was actually nobody of interest to surround herself with and there usually was, but on the other hand, she didn't know too many people yet, especially well enough to ask them to come out and play with her and get their asses kicked because of her power. Although she was pretty good on her own without the power...but it ruined that, now she couldn't prove she was actually talented. It was ridiculously stupid and she hated every second of having this power. Powers and she'd gotten stuck with this? 

She wound up and kicked the soccer ball as she'd ran down the field, imagining a defense in front of her, weaving around them. It soared into the net and she imagined a crowd going wild, only to come back to the reality of a quiet field. 

She sighed.

[Hay-lin Mae]

Hay-lin walked through the training field, Olive her guide dog leading her. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she just needed to walk around. Get some fresh air, get away from everyone. It was nice to just clear her head, It was tired some to work with teenagers all day, and then work with children after job hours at her Mother’s dance studio. It was all tough but she got through it, just like anyone else would. To be honest she rather be extremely tired teaching, and being with young ones, then being completely alone in her apartment, but that was a different subject.

She knew she had just gone through the training fields, she could hear students get frustrated, mumbling, groaning, sometimes yelling, it was all a part of controlling one’s powers. Now she knew she was around the sports fields, she came here once in awhile to be a part of the games that were going on, to ‘watch’ and to feel the energy around her. There was the distinct sound of a ball being kicked, she activated her power and saw a teenager kicking the ball into the goal, the only thing that was weird about this situation was that this person was on their own. She started clapping as she got closer “That was pretty good. Are you a part of the soccer team?” She moved to sit on the bleachers, her feet were starting to hurt.

[Rylee Vasquez]

As she came crashing back down into reality, Rylee stared at the now still soccer ball in the net and after a long moment, she moved to retrieve it, only to hear a quiet applause coming from around her. Her head darted around, her kinky curls pulled into a ponytail against their will swishing over her shoulder, until her eyes rested on a woman who was sitting down on the bleachers. She'd stopped clapping, but she was the only person in the direct vicinity and Rylee believed it had to be her who had done it, especially given what she said next.

"Well, it looks really good anyway," she told the woman, calling out slightly over the wind as she was sort of far away. "There's really nobody to stop me from scoring." And if there had been, Rylee would have scored anyway. She knew that, but it wasn't because she had the upmost confidence in herself like the case used to be, it was because of her newfound power, which assured her that she would excel in all sports, despite her skill level, which she'd worked very hard to achieve. "And no...I'm not really on any teams here."

[Hay-lin Mae]

“well there was still some skill there. Maybe more than you realize. No one has to be there for you to compete against for you to still be great at it.” Which was a fact, there didn’t have to be any competition for one to be good at something. Though competition is good for many reasons, it’s fun, and you can learn from others in various ways. “though I am pretty curious why you are out here alone and not with friends.”

That was also something she was not expecting. Hay-lin perked up a bit, even more curious. By now she would know that one someone was really good at things like sports but decided to do things solo meant that A: they had performance issues/insecurities, or B: They had a power that helped them in some way. The second one was a reason why she never preformed against any other disabled person, because she felt like she had an unfair advantage. However, as she grew older she realized that powers can in a lot of cases be a fair advantage, even in a competition. Like Dancing, Agility (like Rylee’s power) was only one of many different things that went into dancing. “Can I ask why? You seem like you would be the kind of person who would be.”